Light Bulb Terrarium

Are you tired of house plants needing too much attention to keep them going? Well you can make a light bulb terrarium that requires no maintenance, and still looks great for years to come. Just follow these easy steps and you can make a terrarium of your own.

Supplies:

Step 1: Materials

The things you will need are.

Eye and hand protection

One clear light bulb

towel

A sheet of paper or a plastic funnel

Tweezers

Step 2: Opening the Light Bulb (eye and Hand Protection Needed)

Next, you will break the black insulation on the top of the light bulb with pliers. You might have to pull out the silver bit on the top first. After that break the glass structure inside with the screw diver, and shack out the glass into a garbage bin. ( I'm very sorry I don't have any pictures for this step.)

Step 3: Collecting Items for Your Terrarium

Now it is time to gather the things you want in your terrarium. You will need...

gravel

dirt

moss or small plants with roots

Step 4: Adding Gravel

Shape your paper into a funnel shape that fits into your light bulb, or just use a plastic funnel if you have one. Use this to slowly add in a small layer of gravel to your bulb.

Step 5: Adding Dirt

Now it is time to add the dirt. You can funnel that in or if your dirt is very wet, you can smoosh it into little balls and put those in. Add a layer a little bigger than the gravel.

Step 6: Adding Plants

Next, you'll add in the plants. Put them in any arrangement you want, just make sure that plants with roots have their roots in the dirt. You can arrange the plants with your tweezers until there just how you want them because you can't move the plants after the bulb is sealed.

Step 7: Adding Water

To add water to your terrarium just squirt water in the bulb with a syringe or pipette. The amount of water will vary depending on the size of your bulb and how wet your soil is. You will probably need to add more than I have in the image just because my soil was very wet when I added it.

Step 8: Sealing Your Terrarium

Sealing your tarrium is very easy. I shaved down a cork, and put it in the hole, and sealed it with hot glue. You could use a stick or really anything so long as you seal it so no air can escape.

Step 9: Making a Stand

For a stand, I bent a clothes hanger into a stand to hold my terrarium and secured it with hot glue. You can use a rock, craft foam, or pretty much anything as long as it looks good to you.

Step 10: Labeling

You can label the day you stared the terrarium with tape or a sharpie to see how long your plants have lived without getting water.

Step 11: Finish

On the left you will see another terrarium I made two years ago and it is still going strong. After a few months, you might see your plants dying, but don't get discouraged because the dead plants will decompose making co2 for the other plants. Think of it as the circle but for plants, or a winter season.

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7 Discussions

I had planned to do one of these in the spring this year. Now it is the end of summer. Does it really matter what time of year you start? It seems like if there stuff is still growing then it should be fine, but I was concerned that if I start at the end of the growing cycle then it may be too late for this year. What do you think?